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I am a New Zealand registered nurse and nutritionist (Grad Cert Sci: nutrition, Massey Univ). I am a Certified Zone Instructor, and have worked teaching Zone diet principles to hundreds of clients over the last 10 years. More recently after finding that eating Paleo food choices was the "icing on the cake" health wise, I have become a Paleo enthusiast and teacher. Follow me on twitter @juliannejtaylor

Today’s post is just a quick cut and paste. (I’m head down writing at the moment as I’m doing post grad nutrition science papers, currently ‘advanced disease and nutrition’ paper – I’ll be sharing some interesting things I’ve been learning later.) In the meantime this study confirms that a reduced carbohyrate diets is very effective in the treatment for Type 2 diabetes. The strength of this study is that it was controlled for calorie intake, again confirming that its not about the calories. From Medscape

VIENNA — A diet that was short on carbohydrates and long on protein, given to diabetic patients engaged in a supervised exercise and weight-loss program, appeared not only to cut proinsulin levels and postprandial glucose and triglyceride levels, it seemed to improve LV diastolic function[1].

In the study that compared the “low-carb” diet to a traditionally recommended low-fat diet, the one designed to flatten out resulting insulin and glucose curves also allowed them to take far fewer oral diabetes medications and apparently cut both systolic and diastolic pressures. The low-fat diet had no apparent effect on diastolic function or med use or on blood pressures.

On the other hand, the two diets led to about the same declines in weight and waist circumference and lipoprotein-cholesterol levels, reported Prof Helene von Bibra (Technical University Munich, Germany) here at the Prediabetes and the Metabolic Syndrome 2013 Congress.

Many patients with insulin resistance, diabetes, or both have subclinical diastolic dysfunction, with severe prognostic implications if it becomes symptomatic, von Bibra reminded heartwire. About 65% of the 32 patients in the study had abnormal diastolic function as defined echocardiographically by low early diastolic myocardial velocity. That measure in most cases nearly normalized after the low-carb diet, but not after the low-fat diet, she said.

Prof Helene von Bibra

Of 32 overweight or obese diabetic patients (mean body-mass index, 34) without cardiac disease who were engaged in a “rehabilitation program in order to lose weight” that included two hours of supervised aerobic exercise per day, half followed a low-glycemic diet (25% carbohydrate, 45% fat, 30% protein) and the other half a low-fat diet (55% carbohydrate, 25% fat, and 20% protein) for three weeks. The diets provided the same amount of calories. Those on the low-fat diet then switched to the low-glycemic diet for an additional two weeks. Cardiac function by echo and metabolic parameters were assessed daily before and after a 400-kcal breakfast.

From baseline to three weeks, patients on the low-carb diet reduced their use of conventional oral antidiabetic medication by 86%. Those on the low-fat diet reduced them by only 6% by the end of three weeks, but intake went down another 57% by the end of their two-week low-glycemic diet phase. “And still they had improvements in glucose,” von Bibra said. Medications other than oral ones for diabetes, such as antihypertensive drugs, were not changed in anyone during the study.

In the low-glycemic-diet group, mean systolic blood pressure declined from 127 mm Hg to 118 mm Hg (p<0.002) after three weeks; diastolic pressures also fell (p<0.04). Neither changed after three weeks for those initially on the low-fat diet, but both “improved in the same direction” as those in the low-glycemic group after two weeks on the low-glycemic diet, von Bibra said.

The gains in diastolic function probably were not independently related to the associated blood-pressure reductions; rather, she proposed, they reflected improvements in myocardial energy utilization on the low-glycemic diet. Insulin resistance can lead to diastolic dysfunction via several pathways, she noted, but the most prominent seems to be myocardial energy deficiency secondary to microvascular dysregulation and mitochondrial imbalances of glucose vs fat oxidation.

Wondering if you have looked into Dr. Tom Cowan’s approach to diabetic treatment. Dr.Atkin had great success too with special diabetic diet. My main thought, tho, is what you think of TomCowan’s plan of good fats (animal) constituting 60 to 80% of consumed calories.

I think for some – this can be useful, especially for poorly controlled diabetes. In my observation, changing to balanced meals – protein, fats and some carbs, and changing to real food – vegetables (including starch veg) rather than grain and sugar carbs makes a big impact in blood sugar control.

Paleo & Zone Nutrition(NZ)

I am a New Zealand registered nurse and associate registered nutritionist (PGDipSci: nutrition, Massey Univ). I discovered by chance that dietary changes improved my health, reduced the effect of auto-immune issues and enabled me to keep a healthy weight. As a result, I went back to university study nutrition after a 10-year career in design. My post-grad research looked at diet and its effect on rheumatoid arthritis. I am also a researcher for Nigel Latta "Is Sugar The New Fat?" and Simon Gault "Why Are We Fat?" I like powerlifting. Follow me on twitter @juliannejtaylor